Fertiliser firm employees get compensation
Up to 200 Richardson's Fertilisers workers who lost their pensions in 2002 when the company folded are to receive compensation from the British government.
Former employees within 15 years of retirement will benefit - with some receiving 80% of their expected pension.
In 2002 Richardson's announced it was going into liquidation with the closure of plants in Belfast, Cork and Arklow.
Workers held a sit-in protest in the Belfast plant in November 2002 after learning the company had gone bust.
They were dismayed to discover that the Irish Government, the 51% shareholder, and British multinational ICI, the 49% shareholder, had decided not to pay redundancy in accordance with standing agreements.
The Irish Government and ICI instead announced that they would pay a total €17.8m severance package to the workers in their plants in Belfast, Arklow and Cork.
Workers refused to accept the offer and held protests outside the offices of then Enterprise Minister Mary Harney.
Jimmy Burns, 62, from Glenavy, is one of those receiving 80% of his pension.
“It is good news from my point of view, if I actually get the money, but the other question is why they can give you 80% and not 100%t,” he said.
“I have worked with people who have given 25 years of service and they don't fall into that bracket and don't get the money. These are people who have started from school and are not near retirement age.”
